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I've been really tired lately, despite the fact that Beatrix is *finally* sleeping much better. I blames it on a heavy workload that takes up a lot of brain space, and then watching bad Netflix streaming and reading good books late into the night in order to relax.

But I have learned that exercise does help, so I've re-committed to pilates and love it. The Sweatshop just feels so comfortable to me, and I am trying to suss ways I can continue to go after my discount card runs out.

This afternoon I really wanted to just veg, but I had a training tonight to prepare for, and I had to clean off my desk to get to the materials. As part of that, I crossed off a whole bunch of small to-do items, and my work space looks so much better. Which is to say that maybe I would feel more rested if I just got a few more things done.

So I'm hoping to be a virtual whirlwind of productivity tomorrow — if you catch me on the internets, ask me why I'm not working!

I attended the Minnesota Blog Conference today, and was happy to attend a session by Kate Hopper on writing. Part of the session was just devoted to writing, and she challenged us to write something evocative about our childhood, so here's what came out of a 7-minute free writing session:

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Why do I love summer? Because you say the word "summer" to me and I am instantly back in those neverending summer nights, wearing my pink striped kitty cat shortie pajamas (how can I even remember back so far? those pajamas barely fit Beatrix now) — and it's the middle of the night, and the light glows pink-gold in the upstairs hall, and the night is thick and glorious with sticky warmth. And I never know the difference between a tornado watch and a tornado warning, but my mother always does, and she scoops me up and brings me down to the basement where the yellowed white radio is set to WCCO radio, always scratchy and slightly off-station. I sit on the cool green squares of conc…

Since we've lived in our neighborhood, we've lost some really wonderful and influential friends. Marianne O'Brien, Rick Raiter, Pam Gru, Tom Segar,and many more, I think of you often and am grateful for what you have brought to my life. But this week, we lost Judy McLaughlin, and right now that loss seems unbelievably hard to bear.

Judy was one of the first people to take me under her wing when I moved into my neighborhood. She taught me how to stand for what I believed in politics, from the local level on up. She taught me how to throw events. She taught me how to care passionately about things, and to organize people to care along with you. She taught me about the importance of historic preservation. She taught me how to be a steadfast and caring friend. She taught me about the importance of tradition — and when and how to break it.

Her parties were legendary. For years I counted down to midnight in the Summit Manor living room, sipped wine in her backyard, and watched the…

It's been the kind of weekend in which we have been able to take some time to enjoy where we live — and I have loved it!

Yesterday, I started a set of pilates classes at The Sweatshop, and it felt great to be doing it again (though my abs don't appreciate me today).

Then we went to breakfast at The Neighborhood Cafe on Selby. It's a favorite breakfast place — nice atmosphere, friendly service, basic but good food, and reasonable prices. They have a few kids toys and crayons for Beatrix. I keep on looking for a "better" breakfast place for variety, but I have to say, the Neighborhood is always almost perfect.

Afterwards, we took a few minutes to walk around the variety of stores at Selby and Snelling. Patina is always fun, but I really like all the smaller individual stores there. There's a tiny florist I had never noticed before, and the gate to the custom purse place was open, so we wandered back and found that they have a little courtyard with a waterfall …

It's been a long time since I've been very "foodie" in this blog (despite recently joining the MN Food Blogger's group), so I thought I would throw in a review of Palumbo's Pizza, which just opened in my neighborhood on Snelling Avenue. It's in a slightly cursed space, which has already closed down Blondie's and Geordie's. The new owners have started out well by pointing out how much parking there is! Still, I don't like the space (and never have) — there's something loud and strip-mall-like about it, and always a lingering musty smell.

I met co-workers who had been there before and loved it, and we all had the margherita pizza (my standard way to measure a pizza place). It was well-priced at $6 — in fact, almost everything on the menu is under $10. Most of the vegetarian items seemed almost TOO veggie heavy, though (really? zucchini in a calzone? doesn't that get mushy?), so I stuck to the old standard.